PSWs awarded contract

Section:

News

Post Date:

16/01/2014, 05:12

A neutral arbitrator issued a new contract on Jan. 8 for Personal Support Workers (PSWs) working for the Red Cross. The PSWs had voted down a tentative agreement in November and went on strike Dec. 11. Both SEIU Healthcare and Red Cross/Red Cross Care Partners agreed to interest arbitration to end the winter strike.

“It’s an improvement over the previous tentative agreement and proves that when we stand together, we can put pressure on employers and government for change,” says Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare which represents the 4,500 caregivers that were on strike in Ontario.

SEIU will continue its campaign to fix the homecare system by working with government to mandate substantial improvements in recruiting and retaining homecare PSWs.